Jammu, July 12: Jammu and Kashmir Government has constituted a committee to start the process for establishing Primary Reactions Teams (PRT) and engage volunteers in the villages affected by the man-animal conflict across the State.
 Official sources said the proposal to create PRTs was mooted by the State Forest Ministry in view of the growing number of casualties in the man-animal conflicts across the State. The Wildlife Department has identified nearly 150 villages across the State where the scheme would be implemented. Officials said Jammu and Kashmir has received nearly Rs 2 crore for implementation of the project from the Central Government.
 They said that under the proposal, each volunteer would be entitled to honorarium of Rs 3,000 every month for helping the department to monitor the wild animals in their respective areas and ensure they are not harmed. They will also be engaged in awareness campaigns among the rural population to minimize the chances of conflict.
 Though the project was sanctioned by New Delhi last year, its implementation got delayed as Centre had asked for a detailed list of the villages affected by the menace, so that required funds could be released.
 As per the survey, Wild Life Department has categorized villages into two risk groups, `A’ and `B’. Villages encountering high frequency and repetition of incidences of man-animal conflict have been put into category-A villages and a policy to engage village community Rapid Response Workers, in a radius of at least two km of such villages, has been proposed. A total of 100 villages would be brought under this category.
 Similarly, villages encountering moderate frequency conflict have been put into category- B and a policy to engage volunteers in a radius of at least one km of such villages is proposed on seasonal basis. A total of 50 villages are proposed to be brought under this category in the first instances.
 “We have formed a committee which will implement the project in the identified places. The volunteers will be totally casual and on seasonal basis particularly during the summer months. Those engaged will be at the disposal of the department”, Minister for Forest, Mian Altaf told Greater Kashmir.
 He said that after the plan is implemented these identified places will be provided with the equipments like vehicles, tranquilizer guns, cages and nets to deal with the menace at local level.
 Meanwhile, officials said that Government has started the process to procure more modern equipments like rescue vans, long range tranquilizing pistols, automatic trap cages, search flush lights, nets, rescue helmets and special ladders, which will be provided to the staff engaged in preventing the conflict.
 “Though many items have been procured by the Government, there is need for more such equipments as the area of conflict is increasing with each passing day and more stress is being laid to trap the animal and not to kill them”, said a official of the department.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Jul 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 IST